Racism

Last night while playing some modern warfare 2 multiplayer i got into a lobby and I heard some white guys fighting with this black guy over my headset. The two white guys were calling him "(BAN ME PLEASE)" and saying "white power" and the black guy was trying to defend himself.I ignored it and played another game. After that game in the lobby the black guy left and one of the two white guys said "The (BAN ME PLEASE) didnt get to see that ass whopping" and i got on my mic and i basically said cut that racism shit out.They proceeded to call me a "(BAN ME PLEASE)" and i called them nerds and other things.

So the discussion is have you ever had any instances of obvious racism against you or have you seen instances of racism against another person?

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Racism in the instance you described is pretty toothless. Those guys were obviously just doing what they did to get a rise out of the black guy, and were otherwise behaving with an intent to instigate rather than an actual motivation of racism. I'm willing to bet those same two white guys aren't really racist at all, and wouldn't say any of those things in real life. I mean, how many people ACTUALLY say "white power" anymore?

I've never really had racism against me, but I've been around mild cases of it. Usually it's in the form of a comment my dad might make. Years back I dated a girl when I was in college in West Virginia, and naturally I saw some racism present out there. I also saw a fair bit in high school, but it was more because the blacks and hispanics were competing cultures in that area, and I was the minority white guy.

I don't know, I am pretty sure everyone, in one form or another, exhibits a bit of racism or prejudice. Whether they admit it or not, or are even conscious of it or not, everyone has at least a little racism in them.

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I see a lot of racism on MW2 but that's because many players, if not the majority, are either retarded or 12 years old and think it's cool.

I see a lot of clan tags that are EDL, BNP or Paki. The first two are fascist organisations that claim to be acting in Britain's interests with regards to immigration and the like. And "Paki" is derogatory. And also I remember some redneck kept throwing out phrases like "that's some (BAN ME PLEASE) shit right there" whenever he got killed. I told him to shut up and he responds with "(BAN ME PLEASE) (BAN ME PLEASE)" ad infinitum. Even when I told him I'm not offended by his use of the word but I think that he's a complete douche for thinking that he's cool for using in that way. I just ignore any idiots like these people because they're simply stupid and won't actually do any harm IRL without the anonynimity provided by the internet.

I haven't experienced any direct racism IRL. None of the typical stereotypes about black people apply to me, I'm probably the complete opposite to the main ones. I've copped and exchanged some banter which you publicised, would make me/my friends look like racists but it's generally funny stereotypes being reversed and played upon rather than actual racism (which is having inherent views about peoples due to their race).

Racism is hilarious, when it's just joking around. Stereotypes exist for a reason and aren't necessarily negative they CAN be observations. When you do shit like stoning people or bullying them, it's not cool.

I really don't see any actual racism since I live in a relatively middle class white area for the most part. Most of the time it's just children joking around. I do occasionally hear some adults saying things like "yeah I picked up some jigaboos to go to my lawn work the other day" or exclaiming "FUCKING NIGGERS!!" when Obama was elected as president. Most of the time these are hardcore republicans though. If anything, I see segregation a lot more than racism.

Racism is really something that can be good and bad. On my track team, we have a large amount of African-Americans, a good few Asians, and a few white people, but act as if we're just one group. Sure, we'll make jokes sometimes saying "_____(asian) served me cat yesterday!" and "You got above a 2.0 GPA?" to a black person on the team, but all in all, its pretty harmless joking. However, when its being used, as the OP stated, for bullying or just getting the other guy upset, it can actually be very cutting and hurtful, and it should only be used when the person you're talking to you KNOW can understand its only a joke, and you have no hurtful intentions

I've heard lots of racism on Xbox Live. That's part of the reason I got off of it. I agree with froggrunner that we all make those kinds of jokes like that once in a while with friends of that ethnicity because there is no real harm in it because it is all for the sake of humor and it's cool with them. I had a friend who was racist but he learned to curb it down. If you are intentially antagonizing a stranger about their race, like in the OP, than that's racsist.

Yeah, on an online game racist stuff like that is really common, and half the time those people don't even know what the word means. But never serious racism in real life, at worst it's a couple of racist jokes made, sometimes even by a person of that race themselves. I make fun of my race all the time, to poke fun, and we use some stereotypes to have some fun, but I think if anyone was really offended we'd cut the shit out and just not do it anymore. I mean, I say "white power" and I'm asian
Also agreeing with Alan, that's just online trolling, and it only gets serious if the person being trolled responds really defensively

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I grew up in rural eastern North Carolina (part of the "unreconstructed South") and very frequently encountered white racism, both implicit and explicit. Obviously not everyone is racist, but a relatively high number of people is (pretty much my entire family is openly and virulently racist, for instance). The most immediate targets are African Americans and (generally Mexican) immigrants; post-9/11 there is also a fair deal of racism against Muslims, but this is more a political issue since there isn't a large Muslim population. There is racism against other groups as well, but it is not nearly as fervid. It's not terribly uncommon in some places to hear Obama referred to simply as "that (BAN ME PLEASE)" during political discussions. The main contributing factors are historical/traditional and economic (poverty is endemic: the area is one of the poorest in the nation). Racism is generally manifested in the class terms one sees elsewhere in the United States, particularly in "small-town America" but also in affluent liberal areas. Thus it doesn't necessarily preclude friendly personal relations with individuals of another race: the members of one middle-class black family might be good neighbors, church leaders, and even, occasionally, delightful dinner guests; but twenty black families might represent a ghetto that threatens our safety and way of life. At the same time, working or lower-middle-class whites might accept racist folk-essentialisms out of some psychological need to feel inherently, whether genetically or otherwise, superior to all blacks (since biblical literalism is also rather widespread you might even run across the "curse of Ham" being propounded). In this view, although some blacks might be decent citizens, ultimately "the best blacks are still inferior to the worst whites." Often this works in an interesting dialectic with "small government, free enterprise" conservatism; i.e., "The liberal elite in control of government, academia, etc. is stealing our hard-earned money and jobs and giving handouts to lazy, ungrateful, unworthy niggers and illegals!" It is Jesse Helms country, after all.

My best friend is korean, and he got into a arguement with someone who called him a chink like 5 times. People honestly just use the words to piss people off and get reactions. I chose to ignore racial slures, they're just words.

I feel racial slurs are evidence of racism, but do not constitute racism of themselves.

For instance, a racist man could just as easily call a black person a cunt as a (BAN ME PLEASE). The reason he would tend to use the latter term is because he wants to make the black guy feel as bad as possible.

On the other hand, someone who holds no actual racist beliefs may call a black guy a (BAN ME PLEASE) in an argument or a fight deliberately to annoy or intimidate him.

The upshot: causing offense with racial slurs is not the same as 'racism' in terms of belief that members of one race are inferior.

Well, racism is still part of society regardless of what people say. There will always be people using the words "(BAN ME PLEASE)" to describe not only black people but also as a greeting to their friends (trust me this happens). Besides at my school the majority is Asian, so you can constantly hear people speaking chinese and screaming asian power in the hallways. There is close to little to no black people at our school and the white kids are a minority.

Luduan, please. I live in Georgia, and the racism from blacks towards whites is much greater than whites to blacks. Perhaps that's just my city, but I've only ever heard the word "(BAN ME PLEASE)" applied from an elderly white man. On the other hand, I've been told by black girls to "step aside, white bitch" and "I'm entitled to more than you" in classrooms. People like to ignore the fact that racism towards whites is also very real.

I don't think people ignore the fact that racism towards caucasion people exists as much as they don't see it as a problem of equal magnitude as other kinds, at least in countries where the population is largely white. That's not to say it's not equally as bad; there's no excusing racism in any form, but it seems to me at least that racism is still far more prevalent toward other skin tones and, more recently, Muslims.

It would be interesting to know, though, just how many of the readers here are 'racist'. I'll admit, I have racist thoughts every now and again. This isn't just laughing at a racist joke, but actually thinking something about a person or people of a race in general that is racist. Luckily I can hold my tongue for that split second long enough to remember that not only is it inapproptiate, but disgusting by both my own and society's beliefs, but it does make me wonder how many other people experience this. Is it very common? I assume it can't be too rare; there are plenty of people that are explicitly racist anyway. And does this mean that something about human kind is inherently prejudiced in some way? Obviously nurture might play a big part, my father is tremendously racist, for example, but that doesn't explain how racism came to be in the first place. Also, does having these thoughts make a person racist, or do they need to express them, as opposed to keeping quiet or even fundamentally disagreeing with them, to truly be called 'racist'?

Everybody hates everybody else. When people look different, that becomes the easiest target for small minds to pick on. If the kid came off as white, they would have just called him a (BAN ME PLEASE) instead because they have nothing else better to do with their pathetic lives. What the OP described was a bunch of 14 year old kids with the protection of anonymity on their side. If you were really this offended when a bunch of anonymous teenagers said "(BAN ME PLEASE)" to someone that they don't even know is black, then you have no idea what real racism is...and that means society has come quite a long way in only a couple of generations.